Bone transport with magnetic intramedullary nails in long bone defects

BACKGROUND: This study describes the outcomes of internal bone transport with magnetic nails in five cases of traumatic segmental femoral bone defects. METHODS: Five patients with open fracture of the femur and diaphyseal bone loss were included between May 2018 and August 2020. The mean femoral defect was 8.7 cm (range 5.6–16.0). INTERVENTION: We used plate-assisted bone segment transport (PABST) with PRECICE magnetic nails. RESULTS: All five patients have fully consolidated. The mean consolidation time and index were 7.5 months and 0.8 mo/cm, respectively. The mean follow-up was 21.3 months. The main complications were reduced knee ROM, mild varus deformity and plate bending. Post-operative SF-36, Oxford Knee scores and ED-5Q-5L scores were also compiled for four of five patients. SF-36 and Oxford Knee scores were reported without pre-injury data for comparison. ED-5Q-5L index and VAS were compared UK population norm and were both found to be statistically insignificant (p = 0.071 and p = 0.068, respectively). CONCLUSION: Bone transport with magnetic nails has the capacity to obtain good functional recovery in long bone defects despite variable outcome pictures. In response to variable outcome reporting in the literature, we propose a standard reporting template for future studies to facilitate more rigorous analyses.